- In 1999, Nobel laureate Harold Pinter called America's
bombing and dismemberment of Yugoslavia "barbaric (and despicable),
another blatant and brutal assertion of US power using NATO as its missile
(to consolidate) American domination of Europe."
-
- Against Iraq and Afghanistan it's to dominate Eurasia,
and against Libya for greater regional hegemony, including resource control,
privatization of state industries, new Pentagon bases for future imperial
wars, and deterring any democratic spark from emerging.
-
- Obama lied saying:
-
- "United States forces are conducting a limited and
well-defined mission in support of international efforts to protect civilians
and prevent a humanitarian disaster."
-
- In fact, he caused a humanitarian crisis by killing civilians,
the situation worsening daily as deaths and destruction increase.
-
- "We will seek a rapid, but responsible, transition
of operations to coalition, regional, or international organizations that
are postured to continue activities as may be necessary to realize (stated)
objectives," he added.
-
- False.
-
- Giving NATO operational no-fly command is a ruse. NATO
is the Pentagon, America's missile to reign death and destruction on targeted
nations directly or through proxies. Washington planned, orchestrated and
leads naked aggression on Libya. The announced handover changes nothing.
European allies are more pawns than partners. They mostly go along to get
along.
-
- America remains in charge for what promises to be a protracted,
destructive, expensive war to replace one despot with another. Like Iraq
and Afghanistan, it'll likely cost billions of dollars at a time homeland
needs are neglected to hand America's wealth to Wall Street, other corporate
favorites, and militarists for endless wars - lawless naked aggression
each time.
-
- Moreover, humanitarian intervention is cover for mass
killing and destruction. The more the better to assure corporate crooks
huge contracts to rebuild, then on to the next war, and the next one, ad
infinitum, America's addiction, the major media its cheerleading chorus.
-
- NATO, An Alliance for War, not Peace
-
- Established in April 1949, NATO calls itself a "political
and military alliance for peace and security." In fact, it was more
for offense than defense. Cold War hysteria was contrived to incite fear
and assure an arms race for corporate enrichment. Napoleon once said, "Men
are moved by two levers only: fear and self-interest."
-
- Until the Soviet Union dissolved, communism was the alleged
enemy. Today it's terrorism, as bogus now as then. Both, however, were
used for hugely profitable imperial wars from Korea to Libya to numerous
proxy ones, as well as trillions of dollars for military readiness - in
fact, scandalous amounts in America without enemies for justification since
WW II.
-
- Strategically intervening under US control, NATO, in
fact, threatens world peace and human survival. In November 2010, Robert
Griffiths, general secretary of Britain's Communist Party (CPB) said:
-
- Under NATO, "(a) global military and reconnaissance
infrastructure is being created to support US, British and western European
big business interests, especially energy, financial and armaments monopolies."
What began "as a cold war provocation against a non-existent Soviet
threat (now) invent(s) or exaggerat(es) threats from so-called failed or
rogue states, Islamic fundamentalism and cyber-terrorism."
-
- Petre Ignat, general secretary of the New Communist Party
of Romania, called for NATO's disbandment, saying:
-
- "We cannot and will not recognize such a murderous
alliance, with such a horrible track record....which includes the murder
of thousands of innocent civilians in places like Bosnia, Yugoslavia and
Afghanistan. We cannot and will not recognize an alliance which, through
its aggressive policy of expanding East and setting up new military bases
there, through its gross interference in other countries' internal affairs,
through its gross violation of international law, can only increase the
likelihood of an inter-imperialist war between Western imperialism and
emerging capitalist powers, like Russia."
-
- Its original member countries include America, the five
(1948) Treaty of Brussels states (Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands
and Luxembourg), Canada, Portugal, Italy, Denmark and Iceland. It's now
expanded to 28 states and dozens of partners, threatening world peace and
stability.
-
- Membership, however, is a bonanza for Western and Israeli
weapons industries as current members and entering states must maintain
modern arsenals to state-of-the art readiness, despite no enemies except
ones Washington creates to wage wars.
-
- On April 4, 2009, NATO's 60th anniversary, a major international
demonstration was held in Strasbourg, France under the slogan, "No
to War - No to NATO." Participating organizations included peace groups,
global justice movements, trade unions, students, and others against NATO's
aggressive military and nuclear policies.
-
- Rather than providing security, NATO has been an obstacle
to world peace. In a public statement, the Strasbourg coalition said:
-
- NATO "is a vehicle for US-led use of force with
military bases on all continents, bypassing the United Nations and the
system of international law, accelerating militarization and escalating
arms expenditures."
-
- Its member countries account for up to 80% of all purchases,
used for imperial wars called "humanitarian intervention."
-
- "To achieve our vision of a peaceful world, we reject
military responses to global and regional crises," real or contrived.
"We refuse to live under the terror of nuclear weapons, and reject
a new arms race." World security depends on peaceful cooperation and
coexistence, impossible to achieve under NATO.
-
- Today, bogus threats are used to justify its existence,
including "terrorism," instability, arms trafficking, and proliferation
of ballistic missiles, nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, mostly
in Western and Russian arsenals.
-
- Moreover, new justifications are exploited, NATO citing:
-
- "Key environmental and resource constraints, including
health risks, climate change, water scarcity and increasing energy needs
(that) further shape the future security environment in areas of concern
to (member states) and have the potential to affect significantly (their)
planning and operations."
-
- In addition, other areas, including the "ability
to prevent, detect, defend against and recover from cyber-attacks (and)
assessing the impact of emerging security technologies."
-
- At the same time, NATO pays lip service to "creating
the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons" when, in fact,
members like America proliferate them. Hypocritically it then states, "As
long as there are nuclear weapons in the world, NATO will remain a nuclear
power" because Washington, Britain and France won't abandon them.
-
- Rick Rozoff runs the Stop Nato web site:
-
- "an international email news list that examines,
from an adversarial position, the expansion of (NATO) and affiliated and
allied military blocs into and throughout Europe, the Mediterranean, the
Caucasus, Central and South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, Africa, the
so-called Greater Middle East and beyond."
-
- As explained above, he calls NATO "the first attempt
in history to establish an aggressive global military formation,"
comprising one-third of world nations as members or partners on five continents.
Stop NATO's purpose is "anti-militarist, international and internationalist."
The ultimate aim is survival.
-
- NATO wars, in fact, are America's for greater reach.
Against Libya it's to control the only North African Mediterranean state
outside its partnership, and only one of five African states not under
AFRICOM.
-
- Replacing Gaddafi with a subservient puppet will assure
its entry, giving Washington unchallenged Mediterranean Basin dominance,
a strategically important waterway bordering three continents. Securing
control over Iran, Syria and Lebanon successfully will achieve overall
regional hegemony.
-
- NATO's European dominance and eastward expansion especially
threatens Russia. Its new Military Doctrine listed "main external
threats of war" concerns, including:
-
- -- NATO's global expansion, including to Russia's borders;
-
- -- destabilizing nations and regions;
-
- -- deploying foreign forces on territories and adjacent
waters bordering Russia and its allies;
-
- -- deploying offensive strategic missile systems targeting
Russia;
-
- -- militarizing space;
-
- -- deploying strategic non-nuclear precision weapons;
-
- -- interfering in the internal affairs of Russia and
its allies;
-
- -- proliferating weapons of mass destruction, including
missiles, related technology, and nuclear weapons;
-
- -- violating international agreements;
- -- not ratifying and implementing others on arms limitations
and reductions; and
-
- -- escalating armed conflicts and using military force
in areas bordering Russia and its allies.
-
- As a result, at the February 2010 Munich Conference,
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said:
-
- After the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact dissolved, "a
real opportunity emerged to make the OSCE (Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe) a full-fledged organization providing equal security
for all states of the Euro-Atlantic area. However, the opportunity was
missed, because the choice was made in favor" of expanding NATO eastward,
threatening Russia and its allies.
-
- For example, Yugoslavia's 1999 bombing violated international
law and NATO's charter "when a group of OSCE countries....committed
aggression against another OSCE country." Again in August 2008 in
the Georgian - South Ossetian conflict "in violation of the Helsinki
Final Act," prohibiting use of force. US-led NATO, in fact, proliferates
it globally, Libya its latest adventure, threatening the entire region
and beyond.
-
- A Final Comment
-
- It's no exaggeration calling NATO a global menace, waging
war, not peace. It should be abolished, dismantled, not expanded. Today,
it reserves the right to use nuclear weapons unilaterally in violation
of the 1996 International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling stating:
-
- "....the threat or use of nuclear weapons would
generally be contrary to the rules of international law applicable to armed
conflict, and in particular the principles of humanitarian law," despite
no "comprehensive and universal prohibition."
-
- Operating lawlessly and recklessly as America's "missile,"
NATO threatens world peace, stability, security and survival. Disbanding
it is more important than ever. Besides millions of Iraqi and Afghan victims,
how many Libyan deaths are needed to prove it.
-
- Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com
and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the
Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays
at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs
are archived for easy listening.
-
- http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
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